When you think about it Senate Majority Leader John Thune and every Senate Republican opened up a big can of whupass on House Speaker Mike Johnson and House GOPers. Trump too for that matter. It was a political version of the original Blitzkrieg attack in Europe or the attack on Pearl Harbor. Surprise followed by devastation, which is what House Republicans and especially Johnson must be feeling. Hell, when I first heard the news in the late afternoon/early evening I didn’t quite grasp what had happened. It took a few minutes to absorb that what I was hearing was that the House Bill to release Epstein files had ALREADY passed the Senate!
Yesterday, both in the leadup to the House vote to release the Epstein files and for a while after the general talk was that over in the Senate Majority Leader Thune would slow things down. Credible reporting indicated that like many House Republicans there were a number of GOP Senators who thought ‘amendments’ were needed to ‘protect the innocent’ and so on. Basically the House needed to get their stalling out of the news and put the spotlight (and blame) on the Senate for delaying release of the files. More reporting suggested Thune had promised Johnson some amendments would be added. Turns out Thune was lying through his teeth. He had NO intention of tapping the brakes!
I recall late afternoon when I was trying to outline a rant on Johnson’s remark during the morning where he angrily said the vote would take place so ‘We can move on to IMPORTANT things.’ Since I can’t afford either a new laptop or a new TV I summoned some of my old Marine discipline and refrained from throwing said laptop through my TV. Yes, there are a number of hugely important matters Congress needs to be dealing with. THIS is one of them and to denigrate it as Johnson clearly did was an outrage.
However, he’d been talking with Thune and thought he had a deal to still protect Trump which is all Johnson cares about. Thune? Well, he seemed right through the House vote to be amenable to the Senate doing some tinkering with the bill once it was sent over. At least publicly. Behind the scenes it was a different story. We all know Republicans are unlikely to retain control of the House after next November but the SENATE is legitimately in play now too. Thune could also look at the history of Trump backed Senate candidates and (correctly in my book) assume a handful of candidates bearing Trump’s stamp of approval would mean he’d be MINORITY Leader Thune when the next Congress convenes.
Thune and his caucus can read polling as well (better) than anyone at the White House and it seems self preservation kicked in. So, incredible as it seemed when it happened (still does) Senators told Trump and the House ‘you’re on your own.’ As The Independent reports Speaker Johnson was counting on the Senate to slow things down by adding amendments. No such luck. In fact, it seems like Thune flat-out lied to him which is something I’ll get to. What matters is what Thune had to say when before the public (and most journalists for that matter) knew what was happening the Senate passed the House bill faster than greased lighting. Thune went Blazing Saddles – ‘Amendments? We don’t need no stinking amendments!’:
“When a bill passes the House for 427-1 and the president said he’ll sign it into law, I’m not sure that there’s going to be a need for an amendment or desire for an amendment process,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told The Independent after the House held its vote.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) requested unanimous consent for the legislation to deem it passed as soon as it came to the Senate floor, sending it to Trump’s desk. Once the House sends the legislative text over, the bill will be considered passed and be sent to Trump’s desk. As of Tuesday evening, the House has not sent the bill to the Senate.
I got a kick out of that last part. It’s easy to imagine little (not just in physical stature) Moses Mikey Johnson tossing out hairbrained excuses to his staff to use for not having someone walk the bill over to the Senate. Variations on ‘The dog ate my homework’ theme. Or maybe since the FedEx founder was such a bigly Trump supporter using the ‘lost in delivery’ excuse, whining (if you’re old enough you remember this) the old line in their commercials about ‘When it absolutely positively needs to be there tomorrow’ statement. Well, for those who want to do a deeper dive into why I think full blown warfare is going to break out between House and Senate Republicans, and how it will rope in Trump read on.
Let’s start with the shutdown ending and Johnson finally being forced to swear in Girvalja who provided the 218th signature on the discharge petition. It was initially thought, or at least hoped that the four GOPers would stand their ground in the face of Trump’s threats, and a handful or so of other would join them. Perhaps a dozen or more when the time came. By the end of the week things were snowballing. Co-Sponsors Khanna and Massie were confidently predicting at least 40 Republicans would join them, and perhaps even a hundred. Over the weekend it apparently was clear the number would be closer to the latter. Not wanting to be seen as a ‘loser’ Trump himself provided political cover saying pass the bill and he’d sign it.
Ah, but this is Trump and his merry band of incompetent idiots. There were no ‘qualifiers’ in Trump’s statement about perhaps the Senate amending it to protect various people. That gave Thune what he needed to sandbag both Johnson and Trump – the ability to pass whatever the House sent over via Unanimous Consent. Let’s just say Thune decided to work with and keep promises with Chuck Schumer and toss Moses Mikey Johnson and the House Republican Caucus into the wood chipper. Hell, Trump too.
If you’re not a political wonk Unanimous Consent is one of those arcane Senate procedures that is actually vital to getting business done. Amendments and even entire bills can be passed using the tool and it’s staggering how much is done that way. However it only takes one single Senator to object and that means the entire body has to take the floor and engage in debate and a formal recorded vote. However, when Unanimous Consent is agreed on between a Majority and Minority Leader before it’s requested on the floor all it takes is for the request to be made, and hearing no object the person holding the gavel declares it passed and that’s that.
Senators are persnickety with CSPAN about how the cameras in their chamber are aimed but when Schumer made his request few Senators were even in the chamber. Hell, there were probably more clerks and staff than Senators on the floor yesterday when this happened! What I never knew until last night are the behind the scene mechanics of how Unanimous Consent is discussed and agreed to – or not. Thanks to MSNOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell I now know. For those who don’t know or who’ve forgotten O’Donnell got his start in politics working for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Younger folks might not know who Moynihan was but us old farts to and he was a force. My point is that his experience over three decades ago taught him all the arcane rules and procedures, some written some simply ‘understood’ that determine how the Senate functions.
I’m probably already boring you so I’ll skip to O’Donnell’s describing how each Senate Majority and Minority Leader has a sort of ‘hotline’ to every Senator in their caucus dedicated to discussion of Unanimous Consent. Before it’s ever asked for on the floor both sides will know whether it will be granted or not because each Senator would have confirmed with their Leader yes or no. The members don’t even have to go to the floor! There vote yes or no has already been made directly to their caucus leader. That’s why one usually sees so few Senators on the floor during one of these.
Over a period of hours Senators, having been notified of upcoming Unanimous Consent requests can weigh in privately via that exclusive communication system. Thune spend yesterday getting everything line up to be able to tell Schumer there would be no objections when the formal request was made from the podium in the well. O’Donnell described how as Thune’s go-between Senator Markwayne Mullin entered the chamber and gave Schumer, waiting near the podium a thumbs up. Then he want up to Schumer (the two aren’t exactly friendly either) and shook his hand and they had a brief few second of what appeared to be mutual congratulations. O’Donnell did show video of this although there was no sound.
Mullen then turned right around and left the chamber. Schumer made his brief, pro-forma request for Unanimous Consent and as I said with no objection is was granted, and that meant as soon as the bill came over from the House it would get the necessary signatures and it would go straight to the White House for Trump’s signature.
My point in going into all this detail is it took the better part of the day to make sure when the moment came Schumer’s request for Unanimous consent would be granted. I see it as a measure of contempt from GOP Senators (starting with Thune) for their counterparts in the House. If was a GOP Senatorial con-job, making noises about slowing everything down with some amendments which would require kicking it back to the House. Then the House making it’s own changes and finally a conference committee.
I think GOP Senators got really jacked up while Johnson and his caucus sat for months, even during a shutdown doing nothing (but hide away somewhere) while they were in town trying to get work done. The Senate has always considered itself a cut above, better than the House. A more genteel institution. A better class of people and legislators. Add that in with Republican Senators being worried Trump’s and the House GOPer’s antics might relegate THEM back to minority status and I suppose a slap-down, or perhaps an old school paddling in the Principal’s Office needed to be done.
One can be sure lots of House Republicans will be giving Moses Mikey the evil eye in the days and weeks to come. That he is SO feckless, clueless and incompetent that he couldn’t get wind of Thune organizing a Unanimous Consent vote with his members and Schumer could mean the end of Johnson’s being Speaker. Wouldn’t it be just grand to see yet another House GOP sh*t-show of trying to pick a new Speaker right as primary season will be getting underway?
Even better, an awful lot of House GOPers are going to be pissed about the Senate slapping them down. Exposing not just their Speaker but them too as useless. That near unanimous vote in the House wouldn’t have been anywhere near the final tally if House members knew the Senate would, even before the day was out rubber stamp the bill they ASSUMED would be amended into worthlessness pass it and sent it on to Trump! Think about it. Out of what, 217 House Republican’s staffs not a single one of them got wind of what was brewing over in the Senate as yesterday progressed?
I can imagine more than one will have constituents asking them that in the months ahead. And worse, thinking maybe they need a new Representative that has a freaking clue. It doesn’t matter what’s in any Epstein files DOJ releases and we damned well know Bondi is going to play games. That’s another complicated topic I won’t get into here. From where I sit what’s being overlooked is that House and Senate Republicans are about to go to war against each other. NO trust will exist among the respective leadership teams and senior staff, and very little at the rank and file individual Representative and Senator level.
Trump? He’s old, worn out and downright feeble. He couldn’t intervene and knock heads even if he decided to try. He’s got his own fat ass to worry about and he already knows he’s going to be facing investigations from a Democratically controlled House. A Democratic Senate that could block his appointments would be more than a little problematic too but even he has to know the House is GONE. So the Senate and House GOPers will be at each other’s throats, and Trump will be attacking them all. In an election year, and in an economy where Americans including most of his asshat MAGAs will be suffering.
If it weren’t for all the tragic suffering that need not have happened it would be entertaining as hell to watch. However let’s keep our eye on the horizon and note examples of what can be used in campaigns against Republicans next fall.
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Well, if it looks like there will be a blue tsunami in the midterms, a desperate Trump might send troops to blue states, declare martial law, and/or suspend the elections. He won’t care if chaos ensues and innocent people might die. He’s not yet feeble enough NOT to take such drastic steps, and folks like Stephen Miller will be all for it.
Agreed, Karen. All the optimistic predictions about landslide victories in the midterms ignore the level of desperation and pure lawlessness rampant within the MAGAt GOP. Those scumbags will do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to stay in power; that undeniable fact was made clear on a certain 6th of January. Trump’s stooge Hegseth is purging the military command structure and installing sycophants who will happily obey dubious or downright illegal orders. The midterms may not be fought in the voting booths at all, but in the streets.